"We had very, very good intelligence of the general structure
and strategies of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.
We knew and we warned that Al Qaeda was planning a major
strike. There need be no question about that."
[my emphasis--LC]

[After seven months of CIA, the Bush administration and
the mainstream corporate media aggressively pushing the
idea of an "intelligence failure" and that the CIA was "caught
unaware" by the Sept. 11 attacks, the deputy director of
the CIA is clearly admitting foreknowledge.--LC]

"What didn't we know? We never found the tactical intelligence,
never uncovered the specifics that could have stopped those
tragic strikes that we all remember so well."

[This is flatly contradicted by what Pavitt states in another
part of this address, which is detailed below. It is also
contradicted by credible and extensive reports of successful
pre-9-11 penetration of the bin Laden operation by the U.S.
intelligence community, including CIA and National Security
Agency, and the significant technical expertise possessed
by the US government, including Echelon and Promis software.á
It is also contradicted by the fact that intelligence agencies
throughout the world had specific information on the attacks,
and that these agencies issued specific warnings. Certain
segments of Wall Street and US financial community knew
of the pending attacks. An extensive accounting of these
reports can be accessed at From The Wilderness publications
(www.copvcia.com)
and at: www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/042202_bushknows.html
--LC]á

"And as a reality of that difficult and often frustrating
fight against terror, the terror cells that we're going
up against are typically small and all terrorist personnel
in those cells, participating in those cells, perpetrating
the acts of terror, all those personnel were carefully screened.
The number of personnel who know vital information, targets,
timing, the exact methods to be used had to be smaller still.

"Against that degree of control, that kind of compartmentation,
that depth of discipline and fanaticism, I personally doubt,
and I draw again upon my 30 years of experience in this
business, that anything short of one of the knowledgeable
inner circle personnel or hijackers turning himself in to
us would have given us sufficient foreknowledge to have
prevented the horrendous slaughter that took place on the
11th."

[Pavitt is inflating the operational capabilities and fanaticism
of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, which to a large degree
are creations of CIA, while deflecting focus on the extensive
penetration and capabilities of CIA and its terrorist surrogates
(Pakistani ISI, etc.).--LC]

"Some of you out there may have heard bin Laden himself
speak about this on that shocking videotape that we recovered
in Afghanistan. On that tape when he was speaking
to friends as he sat around in a little room, he talks about
the fact that some of the hijackers, indeed, some of the
most senior members of his inner circle had been kept in
the dark about the full extent of that destruction operation
that took place in New York and in Washington on the 11th
of September." á

[The authenticity and relevance of the "notorious smoking
bin Laden video" has not been confirmed. In fact, questions
abound.

"While we did not stop the awful carnage that day our years
of preparation and our experience allowed us to respond
to the challenges of war quickly and effectively. From
the moment the second tower was hit in New York, CIA began
to shift resources to both collection and analysis.
We knew from the start that our key contribution would come
not in now numbers but in expertise.

"Teams of my paramilitary operations officers trained not
just to observe conditions but if need be to change them,
were among the first on the ground in Afghanistan.
With a small logistical footprint they came with lightning
speed. We were on the ground within days of that terrible
attack.

"They came with knowledge of local languages, whatever
you heard to the contrary notwithstanding, terrain, and
politics. á

"None of this came easy. You cannot learn Pashtun
overnight, and you can't truly understand the complexities
of tribalism, regionalism, and personalism in Afghanistan
by reading the newspaper or a learned book. My people
learned about this by years of study and years of practice
often in difficult, hostile places and yes indeed, on the
ground in Afghanistan itself.

"If you hear somebody say, and I have, the CIA abandoned
Afghanistan after the Soviets left and that we never paid
any attention to that place until September 11th, I would
implore you to ask those people how we were able to accomplish
all we did since the Soviets departed. How we knew
who to approach on the ground, which operations, which warlord
to support, what information to collect. Quite simply,
we were there well before the 11th of September." [my emphasis--LC]

[Pavitt is stating clearly that that, contrary to arguments
by some current and former CIA operatives such as Reuel
Marc Gerecht and Robert Baer (who have published articles
and books about the CIAŐs lack of human intelligence in
the Middle East and Central Asia), that CIA had never left
Afghanistan in the wake in the 1989 Soviet withdrawal from
the country.

Pavitt is in fact lauding CIA capability, penetration and
presence. He also confirms here that existing CIA penetration
in the region was vital to the speed and success of Operation
Enduring Freedom, an operation of a magnitude that requires
months -- not weeks -- of planning.á Contrary to PavittŐs
assertion that CIA "responded within days" to the 9-11 attacks
with "lighting speed", it is impossible to build an intelligence
network of such scope in a short period of time.á Bottom
line: CIA was already there, and has been for decades.--LC]

"In a run-up to the millennium celebrations the CIA warned
the president of the United States of serious terrorism
conspiracies around the world. We predicted, we told
the president, that there would be between five and 15 serious
attacks against on U.S. soil. But we did much much
more than warn. With our allies and our partners around
the world we launched immense efforts to counter those threats.
Hundreds of terrorists were arrested, multiple cells of
terrorism were destroyed. One terrorist cell planned
to blow up a hotel, buses and holy cites in both Israel
and Jordan. It had also planned to use chemical weapons. áá

We knew then just as we know now that Al Qaeda and those
who would continue its mission of murder were nothing if
they're not resilient. Remember, the World Trade Center
was attacked once before."

[Particularly in light of the years of information gathered
in the investigations of the prior World Trade Center bombings
by FBI and CIA, claims of a dearth of sufficient intelligence
are implausible.--LC]

"Because the networks of terror are fluid and dynamic,
because they learn from their past and from ours -- from
our past, from our action -- I'm not at liberty tonight
to describe to you every thing we've done against them.
You would not want me to do that. á

"Today, the year 2002, I have more spies stealing more
secrets than at any time in the history of the CIA." [my
emphasis--LC] á

[Which means what was already powerful is now super powerful,
and nightmarishly so. In with all due respect, Mr. Pavitt,
we do want you to come clean with the citizens you work
for.--LC]

"Now for the hard truth. Despite the best efforts
of so much of the world, the next terrorist attackŃit's
not a question of if, it's a question of when. With
so many possible targets and an enemy more than willing
to die, the perfect defense isn't possible." [my emphasis--LC]

[Without providing any specifics, Pavitt is announcing
that new "terrorist attacks" are "unavoidable"
and even "impossible" even before they have occurred----as
in "CIA can't and/or won't do anything about whatever
happens". Why is he issuing this vague and very public
warning?--LC.]

"If I knew any society that would mount such a perfect
defense devoid as it would be of the liberties that makes
us great, is not worth defending." [my emphasis--LC]

[Pavitt is suggesting that mounting foolproof countermeasures
against terrorism would require sacrificing civil liberties
and, as a result, would produce a system that, in his view,
"is not worth defending." This statement is disingenuous.
It is an inarguable fact that civil liberties, and the Bill
of Rights, have already been gutted post-9-11. America is
already a virtual police state. Pavitt knows this. In order
to get "foolproof" protection, Americans should and will
relinquish what little is left of their civil liberties
and accept a full dictatorship. In the wake of another major
"terrorist atrocity", Americans would be frightened enough
to do so.--LC]

"After the deep, debilitating cuts of the 1990s [my emphasis--LC],
when any thought that the end of the Cold War would bring
us a safer, more predictable world, one in which intelligence
was not important, a world in which intelligence officers
were no longer as necessary, we now continue to rebuild,
back to essential strength where we can continue to do what
you and others ask me to do. In the Directorate of
Operations alone, since just five or six years ago, we are
training more than 10 times as many operations officers."
[my emphasis--LC]

[The CIA budget, which has been estimated at approximately
$35 billion, has been increased post 9-11. That is not counting
untold amounts funneled through budgets of other government
agencies.--LC]á